Australian Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows two men paddling a canoe down a pristine river in the Shoalwater Bay estuarine area of central Queensland. A narrator describes conflicting views about projected development in this environmentally sensitive area. The conflict centres on the political tension between the need for job creation and retention and the preservation of the environment. As the canoe moves down the river, the narrator observes that it is possible to devise strategies that will both preserve the environment and provide employment. Local businessman Steve Bishopric promotes the idea of ecotourism as a profitable and sustainable way forward.

Educational value points

• This clip is an excerpt from the 1992 documentary Shoalwater: Up for Grabs, which was made after permits were issued by the Australian Government to allow sand mining in the Shoalwater area. The perspectives of environmentalists, the local community and experts in coastal management were sought in making the film. It is claimed that a direct result of televising the documentary was the withdrawal of the mining permits and the Keating Labor government’s subsequent decision to protect the area following a commission of inquiry in 1994.

• The pristine river shown in the clip is part of the Shoalwater Bay estuarine system, one of Queensland’s few large estuarine systems with a relatively undisturbed catchment. The area boasts a large tract of coastline, including a vast coastal wetland complex noted for its array of wildlife species. More than half of the known bird species in Australia can be found there, and threatened species such as the dugong, saltwater crocodile and various turtle species (green, loggerhead, hawksbill and flatback) are found in the Bay and in river estuaries.

• The clip raises the issue of competing interests in the management of the coastal resources at Shoalwater Bay. Mining interests seek to extract the mineral sands that occur on coastal beaches and dune systems for their valuable components of rutile, ilmenite and zircon, which are used in the gemstone industry and in manufacturing high-tech alloys. While mining would create some employment in the area, environmentalists point to the damage that it would cause to the area’s ecology, and claim that mineral sand extraction is not sustainable over time.

• In the clip, ecotourism is proposed as an alternative development strategy that is consistent with both the need to preserve the natural and cultural values of the area and the desire to create employment. Ecotourism involves activities that minimise the adverse effects of traditional tourism on the natural environment. Types of ecotourism recommended in this clip include recreational fishing, safari-based tourism and the provision of bed-and-breakfast accommodation.

• The Shoalwater Bay area has significant Indigenous cultural value that could be promoted in ways consistent with ecotourism principles. The area includes part of the traditional lands of the Darumbal people, who have not had access to the area since dispossession. The dune fields at Shoalwater Bay contain archaeological sites consisting of shell middens, scatterings of stone tools and dinner camp sites. Research is continuing to identify and describe sites for preservation and education purposes.

• The clip features the work of acclaimed Australian documentary filmmaker David Bradbury, who combined his filmmaking talents with the skills of his long-time university friend, environmental activist and Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett, to make Shoalwater: Up for Grabs in 1992. Since his first film, Frontline (1980), a portrait of Australian news cameraman Neil Davis, Bradbury has earned an international reputation as a filmmaker of conviction who is prepared to go to great lengths for a cause. Many of his films deal with issues of political oppression and environmental destruction.